Rachels Journey.

I’m going to try something new, Reaching out to moms from the community and around, I want to know your breastfeeding stories.

E-mail them with photo to dececco.km@gmail.com

My name is Rachel Gervais, I am 29 years old and I have two beautiful boys. I breastfed both children, however in very different ways.

In my mind, breastfeeding is the most natural and healthy choice for your child, I wanted to nurse my baby from day one; I wanted to provide my son with every ounce of liquid gold as possible. When I ended up having a C-section and a difficult recovery, I did not have the support of the nurses on shift and was too shy to ask for help. When I returned home I was blessed with nipple thrush, which is extremely painful when baby latches on. I spent many nights crying, feeling like I was doing my son wrong, that I couldn’t be a mom because I wasn’t able to breastfeed, I began pumping with many failed attempts of actual breastfeeding and although I only pumped for 6 months, it was the hardest and best decision of my life. I know that I provided him with all the liquid gold that I could. He is now a thriving almost 5 year old, full of spunk and love. Did I breastfeed him? NO! However I did give him my breast milk and that was important to me. Through this whole experience I was diagnosed with post partum depression, I believe the pumping helped me get through this tough time. Giving him breast milk wherever it may have come from was important to me.

Baby #2 comes along, this time I was determined to do it right!, Why I thought pumping wasn’t good enough, I will never know but with this baby I told myself I would ask for help, I would do this right!

It came natural, we had some latching issues but I asked for help from my doula, she was amazing, and that’s when my breastfeeding journey really started.

I became obsessed with breastfeeding; I wanted the world to know that this was a natural and okay thing. That providing your children with breast milk from your breast was normal. It’s amazing the amount of people who do not want to see another woman breastfeeding. I will never understand but will continue to advocate for those who chose to breastfeed, in public or at home. I breastfed my second child for 15 months when he chose to self wean. During this time I breastfed in public, covered and not. I had many people stare but I kept my head up and knew I was making the world more aware of how natural breastfeeding is.

My son was even breastfed by another woman, a really close friend. I was out of town for a night and my son wouldn’t take the bottle, She picked him up and nursed and comforted him, I was very grateful that I had her there to provide him what he needed at that moment. When I tell people about this I get a lot of mixed emotions, however I know that it was the right thing to do because I was so far away.

At one point when I was nursing my little guy a woman told me that I should cover up because her nephew was staring at me. This really upset me, how can you show someone not to be shy or awkward about breastfeeding if we hide from it from our children. I kindly told her that I would not cover up because it was important for me to teach him that breastfeeding was normal and that he should never feel uncomfortable seeing someone breastfeed.

How do we change this mentality? How can we make people aware that breast are for feeding our children? If people chose to breastfeed it should be their choice weather they breastfeed covered or not, in public or not. It’s normal, natural and very rewarding! Would I breastfeed again? Of course! When I see woman breastfeeding, I smile or tell them they are doing a great job, we need to support each other not tear each other down.